New York Giants: How Jerry Reese’s “Winning Blueprint” brought the team to where it is today

While he’s widely praised as one of the best executives in the NFL, New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese’s “winning blueprint” is largely responsible for New York’s season to forget.

New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese is widely considered one of the best GM’s in football, and that’s a fair assessment when you look at his body of work. He’s widely considered the architect of two Super Bowl winning teams after all. However, digging deeper into Reese’s tenure with the Giants paints a completely different picture than what everybody sees on the surface.

For all the positives of Reese’s tenure with the Giants, there are more negatives that have actually hindered the Giants during his tenure that has ultimately culminated in the season to forget the Giants are having in 2017.

The Team’s Winning Core Was In Place Before Reese Stepped In

Reese gets a lot of credit for what the Giants did during the 2007 season, but pegging him as the roster’s architect and as the man solely responsible for the success that New York had that year is completely unwarranted when you take a closer look at the construction of the team.

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To his credit, Reese was responsible for putting together what is widely considered one of the best drafts of all-time in 2007, as each pick in that draft made significant contributions throughout the season which ultimately ended with a historic upset of the 18-0 New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. However, those seven draft picks were the only players that Reese selected himself. The Giants previous general manager, Ernie Accorsi, should arguably be considered the architect that put together the Giants’ 2007 championship team.

Before Reese stepped in, Accorsi had already laid the foundation of that Super Bowl winning team and he was responsible for acquiring some of the Giants’ best players in 2007. Accorsi drafted many of the Giants star players such as Osi Umenyiora, Chris Snee, Justin Tuck, Matthias Kiwanuka, Corey Webster and Brandon Jacobs, and he was also responsible for the draft day trade that brought Eli Manning to New York in 2004. Accorsi also made several key free agent signings to round out the 2007 roster, bringing in key players like Antonio Pierce, Fred Robbins, Kareem McKenzie and Plaxico Burress over the course of his tenure.

Accorsi’s core stayed mostly intact over the following four years, and while the Giants saw significant ups and downs during that span, New York would go on to win yet another Super Bowl in 2011 due largely in part to Accorsi’s players. However, as Reese’s players began to take over the roster as Accorsi’s men either left the team or retired, the Giants personnel took a sharp nosedive in both depth and quality.

Poor Draft Classes and Draft Strategy Significantly Thinned the Team’s Depth

Reese has been responsible for finding some of the best talents the Giants have had in recent memory such as Jason Pierre-Paul, Landon Collins, and Odell Beckham Jr. to name a few. However, the bad far outweighs the good in each of Reese’s draft classes.

Reese has a tendency to draft athletes rather than football players, believing that picks with the most athletic potential could be easily brought up to speed in the football I.Q. department after a little seasoning under the Giants’ coaching staff. However, that was rarely the case with many of Reese’s picks.

His draft day choices ultimately resulted in several high-round picks on players who never panned out. Here are a few of the lowlights:

1. Ramses Barden (3^rd Round, 2008) was supposed to develop into Plaxico Burress 2.0. Instead, he earned only one start and failed to score a single touchdown before exiting the league in 2012.
2. Travis Beckum (3^rd Round, 2009) was billed as the franchise’s next great pass-catching tight end. Instead, he earned only four starts in his career before getting kicked out of the league in 2012.
3. Clint Sintim (2^nd Round, 2008) was praised for his ability as pass rusher and versatility to play both defensive end and linebacker. Sintim recorded only one sack in his career and only lasted one more season in the NFL.
4. Marvin Austin (2^nd Round, 2012), billed as an interior pass rushing force, lasted one season with the team and was ultimately out of the league after the 2014 season.
5. Adrien Robinson (4^th Round, 2012) was dubbed “the JPP of tight ends” and Reese stubbornly made the coaching staff keep Robinson on the roster. Robinson rewarded Reese’s faith in him by recording only five receptions and one touchdown in his third and final season in the league.
6. Linemen Eric Herman (7^th Round, 2013), Matt McCants (6^th Round, 2012), James Brewer (4^th Round, 2011) and Mitch Petrus (5^th Round, 2011) were drafted due to their prototypical size and the potential that Reese envisioned. This no one in this group earned a starting job and McCants is the only lineman of that group that is still in the NFL today.

Reese’s draft day strategy didn’t do him any favors either. It was very rare for Reese to trade any of his draft picks, even when there were willing suitors, and there were several instances where moving up or down would have been a much better move than standing pat and reaching for the player he wanted.

Justin Pugh, for example, had a second-round grade by most scouts and was widely considered a reach when the Giants selected him 19^th overall in the first round of the 2013 draft. Taking that into consideration, the Giants easily could have traded down and nabbed Pugh towards the end of the first round while gathering additional draft capital that could be used to select extra players or as bargaining chips to move up in the later rounds.

Another good example is drafting Eli Apple with the 10^th overall pick in the 2016 draft. The Tennessee Titans and the Chicago Bears leapfrogged the Giants to grab Jack Conklin and Leonard Floyd, and both players were reportedly at the top of the Giants’ draft board. Granted, the jury is still out on Apple and he could develop into a good player for New York, but Reese’s reluctance to be aggressive in the draft ultimately resulted in losing out on an All-Pro lineman like Conklin, who could have easily fixed the Giants’ current offensive line problems.

With an unwillingness to move up or down in the draft and a slew of bad picks, it was only natural then that the Giants began their slide into mediocrity as Reese’s personnel began to replace Accorsi’s players.

Addressing Areas of Need With Bargain Bin Free Agents and Trades

To his credit, Reese has been responsible for some great free agent signings. Antrel Rolle, Michael Boley, Chris Canty and Deon Grant were quality players that played a major role in New York’s 2011 Super Bowl winning season. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has been a great player for the Giants and Reese’s pressure-induced 2016 splurge on Damon Harrison, Janoris Jenkins, Olivier Vernon and JPP paid huge dividends last season.

However, outside of the players mentioned above, Reese is rarely inclined to pursue any big name players that could keep the Giants among the NFL’s elite. Instead, under the impression that his draft classes were talented enough to make the Giants perennial contenders, Reese constantly dipped into the free agent bargain bin to round out the team’s roster. That mindset has led to a slew of “savvy” moves that hindered New York’s roster rather than helped it.

Reese has neglected to address key positions such as the linebacker and the offensive linemen with any premium talent, especially along the offensive line and at linebacker. While serviceable players, Jonathan Casillas, Keenan Robinson, J.T. Thomas and Kelvin Sheppard are rotational players at best and their limitations have led to the Giants defense being constantly abused over the middle of the field. Linemen John Jerry and D.J. Fluker have disappointed so far and have been a big reason why the Giants have their offensive line issues.

Other bargain-bin players Reese has signed in his tenure with New York, such as David Baas, Geoff Schwartz, Marshall Newhouse, Walter Thurmond III, Brandon Myers and Rashad Jennings had their moments. However, they ultimately disappointed due to poor play or an inability to stay on the field.

Probably Reese’s favorite free agency move, however, is bringing in draft busts and players well past their best football, expecting them to have a career renaissance with the Giants. Over his tenure, Reese has brought in several players who were over the hill like Keith Bulluck, Jon Beason, Keith Rivers, Shaun Rogers, Aaron Curry and Brandon Meriweather and every single one of those players failed to pan out like Reese envisioned.

Next: Five things for Giants fans to be thankful for

There’s still plenty of time left in the regular season for Reese’s roster to prove to John Mara that he’s still the right man for the job. However, as long as the Giants keep disappointing, it’s more and more likely that Reese’s job is in jeopardy and rightfully so. It’s not a popular opinion considering some fans still have faith in Reese, but if the Giants want to move forward as an organization and get back to winning football, Reese needs to be gone by the end of the season.